Surgical materials such as sutures, slings, and/or patches are anchored to anatomical structures during numerous surgical procedures. In some procedures, the surgeon manipulates the surgical material, such as a sling, to access the anatomical implantation site, threads a suture into the sling and through the anatomical structure, and then knots the suture to secure the sling at the anatomical structure.
In surgical procedures where the anatomical implantation site is difficult to access hand suturing to secure the surgical material to the anatomical implantation site is difficult, if not impossible. Inaccessibility of the anatomical site requires that the suture knot be tied remotely and then slid to the anchoring site. Such anchoring procedures are time consuming and require surgical skill. Insufficient knot tension and improper knot positioning risks improperly secured surgical material.
In other surgical procedures, surgical anchors are used to secure surgical materials at the implantation site. In such applications, a suture is threaded through an eyelet disposed through a surgical anchor and the suture secures the surgical material to the surgical anchor. In such procedures, the surgical material may be attached to the surgical anchor via a suture before or after the anchor is affixed to the anatomical structure. Alternatively, the surgical material is positioned inside the body of a patient, and a surgical anchor is pierced just through the surgical material and then into the anatomical site to anchor the surgical material into the anatomical implantation site.
If a fastener is used to anchor surgical material to anatomical structures, fasteners can generally require multiple steps in order to secure the surgical material to the implantation site. Some fasteners require positioning the material and suturing the material at the site of attachment to the anatomical structure. Other fasteners require the surgeon to manipulate the surgical material to the appropriate position inside the body of the patient and then pierce or otherwise attach the material to the anatomical structure using the fastener.
Thus, current surgical methods require surgeons to employ multiple steps to implant surgical material at the anatomical implantation site. Eliminating surgical steps increases the speed at which surgical procedures are performed which in turn reduces the length of time during which the patient is under anesthesia. Furthermore, decreasing the number of surgical steps reduces the operating room time required for the surgery, providing improved patient care as well as economic advantages.